How to save a life
by BigBlueBox
Summary: Daddy’s girl sequel. The TARDIS cashes in a place where time and space is fractured, causing a teenage girl to go insane and unleashing a creature from Hell in her house.
1. Prologue

**How to save a life**

_Prologue_

_Disclaimer: I don't own the show._

_Summary: Sequel to Daddy's girl. The Doctor and Jenny crash the TARDIS in Austria, where the find a girl who's not all there. I suck at summaries, so please bear with me. The story is better, honest. I'd recommend you read DG before this, but if you can't be bothered, I give a brief update in the Prologue. _

When my mother died, it broke my father's hearts.

But he had me.

At first he didn't care. For a whole week of my life all he wanted was her. He couldn't even look at me.

She died when I was born, see. She died because I was born. Rose Tyler and the Doctor were never meant to be together. And definitely never meant to have a kid.

Yeah, that's me. The Gallifreyan/human hybrid. By rights I shouldn't exist. And that's how she died. Because it takes a lot of strain to create something that shouldn't be there in the first place.

But here I am.

So at first he didn't want me. After a week, he decided to stop my existence. To go back and make it so they never got together. But for some reason, he came back.

I didn't find out any of this until 14 years later. He had left me with Jack-that's Captain Jack Harkness- and his family to go off and do something heroic. You can guess how well that went down with me. He came back unconscious, nearly dead, and didn't wake up for days. During that time…well, it doesn't matter how, but I found out about it. And I was pissed as hell.

I'd always thought he didn't love me. And in my eyes, that proved it. But he convinced me otherwise. He explained everything, about why he came back. He told me why he distanced himself from me. I'd known he hurt inside for years, but it wasn't until then that I realised just how much.

And since then, he was different.

For a year now, he's been more alive than I ever saw him. Jack, and my mum's mum, Jackie, used to tell me about how things were before I was born. I don't think he's exactly the same now as he was back then, but he's different. Happier, smarter, better.

Even without her.

When my mother died, it broke my father's hearts.

But he has me.


	2. Chapter 1

**How to save a life**

**Chapter one**

_Disclaimer: I don't own the show._

_Sequel to Daddy's girl. The Doctor and Jenny crash the TARDIS in Austria, where the find a girl who's not all there. _

"So if you're Arthur Dent, does that make me Random?"

He glanced up at me from under the floor, raising an eyebrow in surprise. His face was greasy from some sort of oil, and his glasses, which he'd been wearing mostly for the novelty of wearing them, were perched on top of his head, flattening down his hair which was all spiked up from his stressfully running his hand through it so many times.

"How did we get from fixing the TARDIS to Arthur and Random?"

I shrugged, sitting myself down on the arm of the chair; I looked from him, as he sat on the floor fiddling with the Sonic Screwdriver, to up at the rotor, which was jittery at best. It hadn't been working right for a couple of days. She was acting like she was "Time-sick", as I called it, but it felt more like she was being cautious. As though she didn't want to be here. "I don't know. I was thinking about you and Christmas after you regenerated. And you were wearing your PJ's, thus making you Arthur Dent. So does that mean I'm his kid, Random?"

"Probably," he replied, disappearing again, having fiddled with the sonic to his satisfaction. "The name suits you well-ah!" he suddenly swore in Gallifreyan.

"Language!" I mock-scolded. "What'd you do?"

"It burned me!" he exclaimed, standing back up again and holding the Screwdriver delicately between thumb and finger, and glaring at it suspiciously as though it may decide to bite him. "Why'd it do a thing like that? The Sonic doesn't just go around, burning people. It just…it doesn't!"

"Here…" I took it carefully, holding it between my scarf, which I'd started wearing a whole lot more. I like scarves; dad says I get it from some past Regeneration of his. This is fine by me. Only my scarf is different, it's only nine feet long, as opposed to his twelve, coloured with sky blue and minty green stripes. I wear a lot of light colours, in fact, I now had a pair of grey and pink striped fingerless gloves, which I had found two weeks before in the TARDIS wardrobe and had scarcely taken off since. I studied the Sonic, frowning.

"She broke it," I said aloud, looking to the TARDIS accusatory. "What did you want to go and do a thing like that for?"

She didn't reply. I sighed, and reached in my pocket for my own Screwdriver, which he'd given me a few years back when I kept stealing his. "Here," I said, handing it to him. "I want that back in one piece, you hear?"

"Yes sir," he mock-saluted, before disappearing again. There was a few seconds of whirring noises as he found the right frequency, then one long ear- splitting high-pitched noise. Then silence for a moment, before the TARDIS rotor suddenly jutted to life, properly, for the first time in hours. Or was it days?

"Aha!" he exclaimed, jumping up from under the floor. "How's that, ey? How clever was that? Oh yes, I knew you weren't finished yet, old girl," he grinned, running a hand across the control panel. "Aw, no, not you my _beautiful_ ship!"

I sat back on the arm of the chair, grinning as I watched him being so pleased with himself and just plain glad the TARDIS was finally working. I'd been starting to get time-sick myself.

And then the console blew up.

The control room shook violently, taking me by surprise and sending me crashing into the iron railing. I uttered a garbled mix of both human and Gallifreyan swear words. Over the crashing I could just see him scrambling up the control panel, flicking switches and buttons, just trying to make her stop. "Come on!" I just heard him shout in frustration over the noise. There was another lurch and he was thrown to the floor, I grabbed hold of the railing and held on for dear life.

The room shook severely for another few seconds, gave another fierce lurch, almost dislodging me from my clinging space, and then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped.

"You all right?" I called out, carefully pulling myself up, nervous in case she started off again. There was a pause, followed by a crash as something at the other side of the room toppled over. I held my breath.

"Yeah, I'm fine," came his reply. I let out a sigh of relief. He stood, cautiously, and made his way over to the control panel. In the half-light I could see he was limping a bit. He flicked a switch and the lights came on properly. There followed a short silence as I stumbled over to the chair, sat down again and looked at him.

"What the hell was that?"

He frowned, doubtfully, deep in thought. "I don't know. Something _big_," he replied, so quietly I had to strain to hear him. "Really big. I'll tell you what though. The last time I felt anything like that happen…was when Mickey, your mother and I fell through a hole in time, sending us to a parallel world".

"So…what, we're in some kind of other universe?" I shook my head. "But that doesn't add up…" I looked round at the TARDIS. She was battered and a little burnt, but she wasn't dead. "The TARDIS couldn't survive in another universe. You said. You said that it was only by chance that one tiny energy cell managed to stay alive. But the TARDIS survived".

He nodded, a frown creasing his forehead as he tried to think. "I know. She won't be flying for a few days, but…" he flicked a couple of switches on the monitor. "It's all here, and it's all working". He squinted at the information at the screen, pushing his glasses, which were remarkably unbroken and still on him, down onto his nose.

"But if we haven't gone to another universe, then…where are we?" I pondered. He didn't answer. "Dad?"

He looked up. "Hm? Oh?" he checked back at the monitor. "We're in 20th Century Austria…if this is correct. Which it should be". He paused, as though unsure what else to do with this information. "Shall we take a look?"

I shrugged. He said the TARDIS wouldn't be fit to fly for the next few days in any case. "Might as well. Not much point in staying here now, is there? Besides…whatever cause a crash like that would need to be big. Let's look for 'something big'."

"Good plan. _Big_. I like big. Big is good". He was already half way to the door, anyway, albeit still with a slight limp. I picked up my pink zipper jumper type thing and followed.

Outside, we appeared to be in a park of some kind. The dark blue of the TARDIS stood out against the green. He standing with his hands in his pockets, glasses now put away safely in his pocket. He turned when he heard me, looked me up and down, and sighed.

"What?" I asked, staring down at myself. Light blue top, jeans, pink zippy jumper, mint green and sky blue scarf set off with grey and pink fingerless gloves gloves. Didn't seem to be anything wrong.

"Nothing, it's just…" he sighed again. "I never knew that time-travel should be so…pastel". He looked at my gloves with particular distaste.

"Oi! It's nicer than that rag you call a suit," I said, indicating his now battered and well worn brown pinstripe thing.

"This is a classic!"

"Yes," I agreed. "And it's also horrible".

He shook his head, running a hand through his hair and laughed. "Someday you'll learn". He glanced round, as though looking for something, a deep frown creasing his face. "Which way then. That way?" He asked, suddenly, pointing off in an apparently random direction. I nodded, taking his arm.

"That way it is".

"Something's not right…" He muttered to himself, quietly.

I frowned at him, puzzled. Had he perhaps spotted some form of great excitement that I had missed? In a normal street with dull shops selling average objects…it all seemed depressingly right. Nothing "Big" in any case. "What d'you mean?"

He shrugged and drew in a breath. "Dunno. But can't you feel it?"

I concentrated. There was definitely something weird about where we were. Not just in general, but the exact place we were standing. It felt….lighter. Like for a moment you might be pulled away…

"Probably nothing," he said, and began walking, abruptly foreword. "C'mon then, don't want to make this visit a complete waste of few days".

I followed on, walking quickly in order to catch up with his long strides. But I noticed, out the corner of my eye. A girl. Long blonde hair and big, round, green eyes. She was sitting against a ship window, staring into space, her face completely expressionless and her hands tight over her ears.

"Hello," I knelt down beside her. Sensing that I was no longer walking with him, my father turned to look at me.

"What?" he asked, curiously. I held a hand up.

"Tch-tch-tch! Shh!" I shushed him and he nodded, taking a step back to let me get on with it. I turned back to her. "Hello," I began again. "What you doing at here then?"

For a moment she seemed not to register me at all. Or anything, for that matter. But then suddenly her eyes focused on me. She half smiled and let her hands fall from her ears. Then she said "I don't really like them".

"Like who?" I asked, puzzled by her answer and trying to work out it fitted with my question.

She gave a fierce glare, "I wasn't talking to you," she spat, before her anger gave to wide eyed confusion. "I-I mean….I don't…I wasn't talking to you here. I _was_ somewhere else, but not in this one". She stood up suddenly. "I have to go!" She ran for the road, pushing past the Doctor.

"Oi!" I shouted after her, but she paid no attention. She just suddenly stopped right in the path of a taxi in full speed. "Oh god," I muttered, as, far too late, there was a squeal of breaks. She turned to face it, closed her eyes, opened her mouth as though she was going to scream, and…

Vanished.

There was a moment of quiet. The taxi sped through the space where she'd been standing just a moment ago. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, as though she'd never gone from that spot, she re-appeared again. With a frantic glance at her surroundings, she set off running again, to the other side of the pavement, and down the street.

We took a second. Just a second, to digest when we'd seen. And the he turned to me, with this huge, almost ecstatic grin across his face that he'd started using to much more recently.

"'Looking for something big'?" I was mirroring his expression with my own smile.

He nodded; grabbing hold of my hand "I think that's big enough" He pulled me into a run, dragging me behind him. "Come on!"

_I'm not sure how many times I've gone over this chapter and I never feel it's quite right for me. Even so, please please, please R&R and I will love you for ages._


	3. Chapter 2

_I'm sorry this took so long to update, but I'm back at school, I'm doing other work and…I just can't update too quickly, ok? I will as much as I can. Thank you all!_

**How to save a life**

**Chapter 2**

Maria Hampton stumbled as she climbed over her window ledge. She could have used the front door, but didn't, just for the sake of it.

Her dress had been ripped on the bushes in the garden. She didn't care. She rarely cared about things like that anymore. Not since she first fell.

She'd fallen just now, too. To a bad place. Where the air screamed and everything and nothing were at once. She'd tried to tell her mother about the noise, and the voices that she sometimes heard, but she didn't listen to her anymore. Not since the first time.

Maria didn't want to be different. She hadn't meant to change. She'd tried to be like she used to be. She used to be happy. But now it was all different. She never knew what was real anymore. She heard things that weren't there. Tried to speak to people that didn't exist. The doctor's said she wasn't in the right mind. But it wasn't her fault.

And sometimes she went to that bad place.

She didn't mean to shout at the girl with the pretty face and the long brown hair. That was right before she went back to the noise. She'd scared her, that was all. Maria sat down on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. She lived in a big room. And a big house. It wasn't a mansion, but it was quite big and old and it had a garden and a big, big wall to keep people out and Andy, her brother, said they should take the wall down, because it was intimidating. When Maria had fallen, so had Andy. But he was alright. Maria liked the wall. It made her feel safe.

From here she could see right out the window, over the wall. She could see the girl and the man she was with outside her house. They'd chased her all the way back here, but she was a fast runner. They looked out of breath, but they were talking. He looked like he was suggesting something, and she was pointing at the house. Maybe they'd seen her climbing in through the window.

She was so busy watching them; she didn't notice Andy until he was sitting beside her on the bed. "You ripped your dress," he said, fingering the long tear in the green fabric.

"There's a girl outside. And a man," she replied, putting her head on one side. "I like her. She's pretty. She looks like a lady I once knew. Only she had blonde hair".

Andrew smiled, almost a little sadly. He was used to his sister talking like this by now. She hadn't been right for a while. He smoothed her long blonde hair back from her face. "Where did you see this woman, then? Did she have blonde hair, just like yours?"

Maria giggled and shook her head. "I don't know, I never met her," she told him, as though in some way of explanation. "Her hair was dyed blonde, though. _They can help_," at the last part, she'd turned to look at him and began speaking quickly in a hushed voice. "They can help me, and they know stuff, I saw it. They can help me stay away from the bad place with all the noise".

"Who can? Help you with what? Slow down," Andy tried his best to calm her, but he knew, from experience, that nothing would work when she got into a state like this. In a ditch attempt, he wrapped his arms around her, though it rarely made her feel safe, as was intended, placed a kiss to the top of her head, and carefully clasped one of her wrists in each hand, in case of her becoming violent. She snatched her wrists away and stood up, abruptly.

"The girl and the man outside," she sighed, looking down at him and pointing out the window. Andrew looked, but saw nothing. "She's coming anyway," she informed him, matter of factly. "She wants to see me. She'll keep asking about me. And he's not coming, just her. Look".

"I don't see anyone," Andy said. He looked again, just for good measure, but there was no one. Maria fixed him with a sharp look, then rolled her eyes, and, with unfailing style, tossed her hair back in an unmistakably impatient gesture that always made him feel about two inches tall.

"_That's_ because she's climbing over the wall".

We skidded to a halt just outside a grand house. I knew it was grand because it had a wall round it. A big wall. I didn't like it.

"She went – in - there" I nodded up to the open window where, a moment before, I'd seen her disappearing inside, whilst trying to get my breath back at the same time.

"I know, I saw her," he said, standing beside me with his hands in his pockets, frowning, as though he wasn't even slightly out of breath. "She scaled this wall easily enough," he observed, placing a hand on its rough, grey side. He turned to raise an eyebrow. "We could climb that…"

"We could," I agreed, nodding. It wasn't so high, but he sighed even so.

"I know I'm getting older when people are suddenly willing to go along with my suggestions".

"Maybe you're losing your touch".

"Or maybe you're just too criminally minded," he said, prodding my arm.

"Probably. Anyway, that's almost a good plan. Except that, having just seen what we just saw, I'd say there's a hell of a lot more going on than you saw with your quick scan back on the TARDIS. One of us should go back and check for problems in the timeline".

He eyed be carefully. "If you want to go back…"

I shook my head. "You go back".

"Excuse me?"

I sighed. "Like I said, one of us needs to go back. You've always been better at getting the TARDIS to work than me, and," I pressed on, before he could interrupt, "I think it may seems just that bit less suspicious if I happen to be found in the house, climbing through her bedroom window. If you see what I mean".

"You've got this all figured out, haven't you?" He asked, turning his head to one side and jamming his hands deep into his coat pockets, like a child trying to make a decision.

"Go on," I said, teasingly. "You know I'm right".

He hesitated for a second, sighed, and then nodded. He reached into his coat and handed me my Screwdriver. "You'll need it more that me," he reasoned. "I'll see you out here at nine tonight, ok? Find out as much as you can-and don't get into trouble."

"You know I will!"

"True, but that's what I'm supposed to say, and it wouldn't feel right if I didn't". He nodded to himself, as though he'd just said something terribly thought provoking. "Have fun," he smiled, turning away from me.

"Hope I do," I called back. I watched him until he had disappeared around the corner before turning to the wall.

I didn't climb things often. Ropes were necessary; I'd been starting to get the hang of ropes. And ladders. And Rope ladders. But walls were a new thing. Walls I hadn't done before.

"Well, let's see if it's as easy as she made it look". I muttered to myself, touching the wall gingerly, checking it was secure. It seemed strong enough. There were lots of holes and uneven bits in it, which made it easier to find hand holds. After finding two suitably strong ones, I hoisted myself up, digging my feet into two dents near the bottom. "Well, this isn't so hard," I reasoned, reaching up for another hold, I pushed myself up with my left leg and began to climb.

The wall turned out to be every bit as easy to scale as it had seemed, and it wasn't hard to get into a natural rhythm. The hard part, as I discovered on reaching the top, was to be getting down again. I frowned at the considerable depth between me and the ground, and it occurred to me that I should be developing a case of vertigo as any moment now.

I couldn't climb down; this side of the wall was decidedly flat. So that left jumping. I wasn't keen on jumping, but it seemed to be the only way. Taking a deep breath, I twisted myself round so I was facing the wall, holding myself up with my arms, and my legs dangling down. I closed my eyes, counted to three and…

"Ah!" I landed awkwardly, on my feet, almost, but somehow I managed to end up at my back, staring up at the sky, the sun and…

Two of the most piercing blue eyes I'd ever seen in my life.

"Hullo!" I smiled up at the boy, who looked about 17, before getting to my feet, brushing myself off as I did so. I was still looking up at him after I stood, because he was a good few inches taller than me. His eyes were an icy blue that I'd never encountered before, he had had short blond hair that was slightly messed up, and he was smiling. It was a nice smile.

He was…well, striking.

"Hullo," he replied. I didn't say anything to this, so he went on, looking at me curiously. "I, uh, well girls don't usually appear at my feet. Care to…" he gestured to the wall, raising an eyebrow. "Explain?"

Followed his hand with my eyes, trying to work out what he meant. "Oh!" I said, realising that I had just fallen from the top of his garden wall. "I, uh, I….a girl…" there wasn't much point in lying, but I didn't need to tell the whole truth. "She seemed a bit…odd. And I saw her climbing over the wall, and I followed her. A blonde girl? I wanted to see if she was ok".

"You do realise that this is trespassing, right?"

I blinked at him. "Who is she?"

He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. "She did say you'd keep asking about her…" he muttered, almost to himself.

"Who?" I pressed him.

"My sister," he finished, looking up at me. I realised his face reminded me of hers, though his eyes were an amazing shade of blue, whilst I remembered that hers were green. "I'm Andrew," he added, as though an after thought.

I smiled, in spite of myself. "I'm Jenny. But your sister…" I turned my head on one side, observing him carefully. "She's not….has anything…odd happened to her lately?"

He shrugged, but looked away. "Do you think you can help her?"

"Let me see her". He looked doubtful. "Andrew, please. I promise you, we can help".

His face suddenly flashed with confusion, then suspicion. "Who's 'we'?" he asked, his eyebrows rising. I very nearly blushed, and for a second I was stuck for anything to say. "Maybe you should go".

"Just let me see her," I insisted, choosing to ignore my previous blunder. He opened his mouth to interrupt, but I cut him off. "_Trust me_".

He stopped for a moment, staring at me hard. And then he sort of…collapsed in on himself. An older brother giving in for his sister. "Alright," he said, sighing. "Alright, I will. You can see her," he turned away, and headed towards the door to the house. "She's in her room…"

"Thanks," I said, quietly, so I'm not sure he heard it. Then I followed. "Thank you, Andy".


	4. Chapter 3

_Merry Christmas, everyone! Hope you enjoy the Runaway Bride!_

_Sorry this took so long, you know the drill. Work, work, work...etc. I couldn't resist a little nod to the Sylvester McCoy years, so I hope that's alright._

**How to save a life**

**Chapter 3**

The Doctor slid the key into the TARDIS main doors, frowning away to himself, seemingly oblivious to the world around him. He hadn't let on to Jenny, but being here unnerved him. Not that he didn't love trouble, but he didn't like this sort of trouble. Something about it put him on edge. It didn't feel right. Maybe it was just his uncanny ability to get himself into scrapes (Sometimes he wondered if the TARDIS did it on purpose) or maybe it was the damage done to the TARDIS. Either way, it made his hair stand on end.

There were scorch marks across the control panel that he hadn't noticed before. He gritted his teeth and ran his hand over them, gently feeling the damage. "Never mind, you," he told her, placing a wide grin across his face; he darted round to the battered chair on the other side, where the screen was. "We'll soon have you running span and spick, rain as right, come on!" He frowned, thinking about what he'd just said. He hadn't got his words mixed up like that for a while, now.

He gave the screen a small tap. It clicked itself to life, as it usually did. The picture flickered, buzzed, and then gave way to zig-zaggy lines across the screen, telling him that it needed to be tuned. Odd, as it had been working fine before they'd left. Sighing, he reached for his pocket, before remembering that his screwdriver was broken, and Jenny had the other one. He'd forgotten that there had been an energy wave strong enough to crash the TARDIS and break the sonic. And the TARDIS knew he'd forgotten.

"Alright, I'm sorry." He lamented, aloud. "I should have known you're not at your best and not to expect too much from you. But you know there's something seriously not right here, so please, please, put the screen back on?"

There was silence for a moment, then, with a soft moan from the TARDIS, the zig-zags disappeared, to show a clear diagram of the Time Vortex. "Thanks for that," he smiled, cheerily, pulling his glasses out of his pocket; he leant in to get a closer look at what she was showing him. "No…" he said, quietly. "That's not right. That is not right at all". He did a little tapping on the picture moved it about a bit, a deeps frown creasing his forehead. He stared at the screen for a second, his mind taking a moment to register exactly what was on the screen. When it finally did, the frown uncreased itself and he swore very loudly in Gallifreyan. "That," he said, breathlessly, staring wide-eyed at the screen. "Is indeed, very, very wrong".

The TARDIS moaned in agreement

"What's wrong with this staircase?" I asked, looking up at Andrew curiously with my head on one side. With a sigh, his shoulders stiffened as he turned to look at me.

"There's nothing wrong with it. Why is there something wrong with it?" he snapped, the impatience clear in his voice.

"I dunno," I shrugged, pouting a bit. "It just…doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel safe. Like..." I trailed off, unsure how to finish. "It's probably nothing," I decided, carrying on up the stairs. "Are we going or what?"

"Yeah, sure. If we can actually get a chance to move," he replied, raising an eyebrow pointedly. I rolled my eyes. So far I had stopped us four times, once to take a look at a beautiful tapestry in the front room, what I made a mental note to get a better look at later when we had the time, and twice to take a look round the gigantic library, which had two doors leading to it. I had to wonder what dad's reaction would be to the hundreds of books. He'd probably grin a lot, to a bit of giggling, and have a nervous breakdown. Well, it had to happen sometime.

"How much further up is it, anyway? Christ, your house is big!" I exclaimed, for what must have been the sixth time. He nodded impatiently, as we made our way up the wooden staircase.

"You get used to it. Her bedroom's right on the top floor. It's the most secure place in the house. We've had to keep her there since…" he trailed off, bushing as though he'd said too much. "Anyway," he went on, as the stairs came to an end, giving way to a dark corridor. "Her room's right at the end".

"Is it always this dark?" I asked, uneasily, glancing into one of the rooms and trying to make it out in the shadows. Outside it could only have been about three in the afternoon, and although it was clearly still brightly sunny through the window, the room, and, as I saw glancing through some of the other doors, all the other rooms as well, was dark, as though it was night. "Or cold?" I gave a shiver to prove my point. The temperature had dropped by several degrees.

"No," he breathed, frowning, his breath steaming up in the air. I nodded to myself. Typical. I had a feeling that might be his answer.

"I think we'd better get a—" I was cut off by a loud shriek from the end of the corridor.

Andrew's face went deathly pale. "Maria," I heard him mutter, and before I even had time to react, he was speeding down the corridor, and pulling on the door knob of a large, oak door. "It's locked!" he shouted as I caught up with him, panting.

"Where's the key?" I asked urgently.

For a moment he looked lost. "She keeps it with her all the time," he told me, breathlessly. "That's the only one".

"Ok, move over," I said, shoving my hand in my pocket and moving him to the side, as another scream issued from the room. "Frequency, frequency…" I muttered, fiddling with the screwdriver. Andrew gave me a suspicious look as I gave it a quick test.

"What the hell is that?"

"Just trust me," I said, and held it up to the key hole, I pressed down and counted, slowly. "…2…3…4…5…6…7…8," I jumped backwards, pushing Andy to the side as the lock literally exploded, sending sparks everywhere. A second later he'd kicked the door open.

"Maria?" He shouted, looking all round the pitch-dark room, which was even darker than the others. The window was wide open.

"I'm here!" she called out from the corner. He bent down and for a moment he vanished out of sight, I had to strain my eyes to see where he went. I took a careful step towards the door. Other than the deep black, the place looked safe enough. I was about to step right inside when I heard a noise, almost like a…_whoosh_. A second later, I was forced back into the corridor wall, cracking my head against it as something hit me full on in the stomach. Only it didn't _hit_ me, as such, it went _through_ me. And it was ice cold.

I lay there for a moment, trying to remember where I was. And who I was. I suddenly doubled over; choking and retching, feeling like my insides had frozen solid. I had an urgent need to be sick. Lights seemed to be flashing in front of me a blinding burning pain behind my eyes and a loud, high-pitched screeching ran through my ears and, seemingly, my soul. I was aware of someone holding my hand as I writhed on the floor.

And then it all just stopped, as soon as it had begun. I sat up to find Andrew crouch beside me, a concerned look on his face, holding his sister behind him, protectively. "Jenny? You alright?"

Resisting the urge to make a sarcastic comment, I looked past him into the room, which was now suddenly filled with bright sunlight from outside and swallowed. "I'm fine." I said, breathlessly, standing carefully, testing myself and finding nothing wrong. "I'll tell you what, though," I said matter-of-factly, shaking as I stood staring down the corridor at where the…thing, whatever it had been, has gushed off. "This house definitely isn't".


End file.
